Free Web NovelChapter 204: Chapter 204 - Swim
Morning light filled the kitchen and settled across the table where they sat. The smell of coffee lingered in the air.
Iyisha reached for an oat biscuit and took a bite as her eyes moved past the table and toward the open doorway. She could not see Malcolm from where she sat, but she kept looking anyway.
"Iyisha."
She did not answer.
"Earth to Iyisha."
She blinked and turned.
Marybeth was already watching her. "You good?"
"Yeah."
Her eyes went back to the doorway.
Marybeth leaned back and gave a small laugh. "You got it bad."
Iyisha frowned at her. "What?"
Lance let out a short laugh. "Should I start calling you sis now?"
Iyisha shot him a look. "Shut up."
Marybeth grinned. "You’ve been staring over there for five minutes."
"I haven’t."
"You have."
Iyisha reached for her coffee and took a sip just to break eye contact, but she looked back again right after.
"Really?"
Aljun’s voice cut in. He leaned forward, mug still in his hand. "No one’s gonna tell me what the hell you did?"
No one answered.
Iyisha glanced at Marybeth, then Lance. They stayed quiet.
Aljun frowned. "Yeah. That’s what I thought."
Iyisha looked back at him. "You saw it."
"I saw something."
She held his gaze. "Then you already know it’s not normal."
"Yeah," he said. "No shit."
Silence stretched for a second.
Iyisha exhaled. "I’m... different."
Aljun waited. "Different how?"
She hesitated, then said it anyway. "They call it evolved."
He blinked once. "That a joke?"
Iyisha gave a small smile. She lowered her gaze to her hands resting on the table.
She tried to remember but she can’t. She remembered the pain in her head then nothing. The walkers had stopped.
It sounds impossible. Even when Marybeth has told her everything, it didn’t feel real.
Did she really do that?
If she could do it again, if she could understand it, then it would change things. It would give them an advantage, something no one else had.
She lifted her eyes and looked at Marybeth.
Marybeth was already watching her.
"No."
Aljun stared at Iyisha, trying to read if she meant it.
Then his expression shifted.
"I’ve heard about those," he said, sitting up straighter now, something lighting in his eyes. "They say there’s a lot of them in Manhattan."
Iyisha and Marybeth both leaned in.
"Really?" Iyisha asked.
Aljun nodded. "Rumors, mostly. But you know... if there’s fire, there’s something smoking—"
"When there’s smoke, there’s fire," Lance cut in, setting his cup down.
Aljun rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. That."
He took a sip from his mug, then looked back at Iyisha.
"So how long have you been like that?"
Iyisha’s smile softened.
"Less than a month."
Aljun let out a breath and shook his head slightly as he looked at her.
"That thing you did back there," he said as he lowered his mug onto the table. "That was some neat magic trick."
His eyes narrowed as his fingers tapped once against the surface.
"Controlling walkers?" he said. "That is next level shit. People would kill to get their hands on that."
"Yeah," Marybeth said, her voice steady. "Which is why people should not be talking about it."
"Exactly," Marybeth said. Her chair scraped lightly as she leaned forward and rested her arms on the table. She did not raise her voice, but she did not look away from him either.
"So listen carefully," she said. "You talk about that, I will kill you."
The room went quiet.
Aljun froze for a second, then gave a small nod. He did not look at her right away.
"Yeah," he said. "I am not looking to know more than I already do." He let out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "The less I know, the better."
His eyes flicked to Iyisha, then away.
"My goal is Manhattan," he said. "You get me inside, and we forget about each other."
Marybeth stayed where she was, still watching him. "That is all you want?"
Aljun nodded once. "I want to be somewhere safer than this," he said. "I am eating, sure, but I want real food, and I do not want to keep thinking about where it came from every time I take a bite."
"Shut your mouth," Lance said, his face tightening as he looked away. "You are going to make me puke."
Marybeth leaned back slowly, with her eyebrows raised and took her coffee, and she kept her eyes on Aljun as she drank.
"So we good for tonight?" he asked.
"We have the gear," Marybeth muttered.
Footsteps came from the other room.
Malcolm stepped in and everyone looked at him.
"Get ready," he said. "It is a long way to the river."
Chairs shifted as they stood, and cups were left behind. Marybeth checked her bag while Lance gathered what he could carry, and Iyisha adjusted her jacket before falling in behind Malcolm.
They moved out into the street and kept close as they worked their way out of Gowanus. Malcolm set the pace and chose the turns, and they followed without question. When they reached open stretches, they used the same method and threw bottles ahead to pull the walkers away, then crossed while the path cleared.
They moved block by block and kept their spacing tight as the light began to drop. The sun lowered behind the buildings and the streets dimmed, and the shadows stretched across the road.
Malcolm slowed near a row of small shops and raised his hand. He pointed at a door along the side.
"Let’s wait for sundown," he said under his breath.
They nodded and brought out their blades before moving in.
Malcolm pushed the door open just enough to slip through, and the others followed close behind him. The shop was small, with shelves along the walls and a narrow space between them.
Three walkers turned at the sound.
They stepped in. Steel drove forward. Bodies dropped one after another.
When it was done, the room fell quiet again.
They waited until night fell. No one spoke as the last light disappeared and the street outside turned dark.
When Malcolm moved, they followed. They stepped back out and kept low, staying close to the buildings as they made their way toward the bridge. They avoided open spaces and kept to the shadows, using the darkness to hide their movement from anyone watching above.
By the time they reached under the bridge, they stayed pressed into the darker edges where the structure blocked what little light remained.
Malcolm crouched and reached into his pack. He pulled out a pair of night vision goggles and handed one to Iyisha. Marybeth already had hers out and was adjusting the straps.
They stayed low.
"What if those snipers have night vision too?" Iyisha asked quietly.
Malcolm pulled a dark mask up over the lower half of his face as he secured his gear. "Let’s hope not," he said. "We’re going under the bridge. Less exposure."
Iyisha swallowed as she tightened her grip on her blade.
"Just follow the plan," Malcolm said. "We have a small window."
He looked at each of them before adding, "If any of you make a mistake, we’re dead."
They moved on Malcolm’s signal.
He slipped into the water and vanished under, and the others followed without hesitation.
The cold closed around Iyisha at once and locked her chest tight. Her breath caught, then she forced it out and pushed forward.
The current hit from the side and drove into her ribs. It pushed her off line and dragged at her legs. She kicked harder and reached forward, but the water resisted every movement and slowed her down.
The rope at her waist snapped tight and pulled her back into line.
She grabbed it with one hand and held on, checking the tension. It ran forward and back, linking all of them. She felt it shift, uneven for a second, then steady again.
Lance.
Her grip tightened.
She pushed forward.
The water pressed against her face and filled her ears. Her arms moved slower now and her shoulders started to burn. Every stroke took more effort than the last.
The rope tugged again, sharper this time, then slackened too quickly.
Her chest tightened.
She turned her head slightly, trying to see through the dark water, but there was nothing clear behind her. Just movement. Just shapes.
She held the rope tighter and felt for it again. It pulled, then dragged, then caught.
He was still there.
She forced herself forward.
The current surged again and twisted her body sideways. The rope jerked and forced her straight, and she kicked hard to follow it. Her legs felt heavy, like something was pulling them back.
Her lungs burned.
Another pull came from behind. Slower. Weaker.
Lance.
She kept moving, one stroke at a time, holding the line, letting the rope guide her while the current fought to break it.
Her legs started to stiffen and her kicks lost strength. The current kept pushing against her and she felt it take more from her each second. The rope at her waist pulled forward again, stronger now, and she followed it.
Malcolm was pulling them through.
Her hand hit the edge.
She grabbed onto it and held, dragging herself closer as her body fought to keep moving. The water still pressed against her, trying to pull her back under, but she held on.
Malcolm surfaced beside the ledge and raised a hand at once.
Quiet.
She froze.
He pointed upward.
Iyisha lifted her head just enough to look.
A shadow moved above.
Her grip tightened on the edge. Water dripped from her arms and she held herself still, trying to keep every movement small.
Behind her, the rope shifted. Malcolm reached back and pulled it in, bringing the others closer.
She listened.
Someone moved above them. Slow steps. Close enough.
Iyisha held her breath again as she stayed pressed against the edge, hoping no sound slipped out as they came up from the water.
